NEW ORLEANS, La. --- The Moravian College men and women's cross country teams are both ranked in the Mideast Region in this week's NCAA Division III regional rankings released by the United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association. The men went from unranked to fifth in the Mideast Region while the women moved from unranked to tenth in the region.

The men's ranking is the program's highest since the regional rankings began in 2010 with the previous high being ninth. The Greyhounds jumped into the rankings after a runner-up finish at the Elizabethtown College Short Course Invitational last week.

"Friday was one of the better team races our men have had in the past year or two," noted Director of Cross Country and Track & Field Jesse Baumann. "It's how we got some of the recognition we received this week. However, a mid-September ranking ultimately does nothing for us to accomplish the goals we have for the season and quite frankly I think we have a lot more in us. We discussed how a strong Friday showing and a good regional ranking is only a start of what we hope to achieve, and what I feel our team is capable of this year. It's certainly gratifying to be recognized in the top 5 but ultimately we need to back that up with our training and November performances."

The women's squad placed fourth at the Elizabethtown Short Course Invitational and has a pair of top five team finishes this fall.

"We've been battling a few unexpected setbacks and on top of that didn't have the best workouts leading into Friday but the women stepped up with a very strong team race on Friday which helped get us some positive recognition in the polls," Baumann said. "We've had a few women in our mid-pack start to make really big steps forward even within the last week and we're hoping to keep that momentum rolling because we'll need that ascension if we want to finish in the top 10 when we get to November. I'm confident we're capable of achieving that as long as we can stay healthy and continue to put in the work."

The full week two rankings from the USTFCCCA are available at http://www.ustfccca.org/2019/09/featured/2019-ncaa-diii-cross-country-regional-rankings-week-2.

The Greyhounds run again on Saturday, October 5 when they head to the Paul Short run hosted by Lehigh University.